Crazy Question: Anybody have Schematics for Simon Says? by Hasbro

I simply cannot find any technical documents relating to the origional Simon Says game that came out in 1978.  I can't even find anything on the 1981 re-release. I have found a decent dissection of a modern version, but it's almost definitely completely different.

An EE friend and I are trying to modify an original unit in such a way as to bypass the logic or game part so that it can be used as a terribly simplistic instrument. I can obviously rip one apart and reverse engineer the circuit, but it would be nice to save that time.

I know this all sounds like crazy talk, but this project is for a friend of mine who I guarantee will find awesome uses for it. I'm also hoping to take it a step further with the Super Simon: http://bit.ly/czRbzn . Eight buttons instead of four, so if we can figure how to alter the notes, hopefully we could get a full scale...

and then why not a half step modulation rotary switch so that I have all keys... ?

Any ideas?

Maybe you need to say "Simon says does any one have schematics". (Sorry)

Gold said:

(Sorry)

Click to expand...

AFAIK, that game didn't have any electronics.  ;D

All very helpful.     

;D

Simon says "Reverse engineer me".  ?

You could get this Sparkfun kit and modify it anyway you like.
http://tinyurl.com/ygolja8

Cheers.

ZAP

It might be easier to recreate it with an embedded processor and some C code, then you have VAST capability for future enhancements by changing software (maybe some hardware if desired)...  The question is, however, if authentic sound is the goal, then the question I have is what is making the tones?  Is it one of the old sound chips commonly found in Atari's and Commodore64's etc?  An EE would have an easy time with the embedded and resulting PCB....

Sounds interesting, it would make an interesting live performance midi controler.
Sorry I cant offer any help with what you wanted, but if i was doing this i woudl probably just gut it and stick a midi chip inside it, then just have a midi out to control ableton or hardware midi insturments.
It would look really cool at a gig.

TwentyLog & Autophase -

My research tells me that you are both very right, it would be much easier to accomplish this with newer technology. It would even make it much more flexible, with more possibilites for modification. Unfortunately, I'm too stubborn for that sort of thing. I'm determined to simply bend the existing circuitry and possibly add a few improvements like a 1/4" out and a power supply instead of the whole 1x9volt, 2xD battery thing. I'm pretty sure I can avoid screwing with the whole on-chip logic thing. If not, I'll certainly be looking for a modern replacement.

The midi thing is very interesting to me, however, and I'll almost definitely be looking into that as a later step

Of course... bending is always fun too... I still am curious about the chips used inside the simon says especially for sound... I remember my old Atari PC having a dedicated sound chip, that I think the commodore had too, but the commodore's command of the chip was deeper through the BASIC interface....  I wonder if it is the same (or did they do some sort of interrupt based PC style of beep sound with TTL on a Z80 type of thing?)

Can you read any chips' part numbers inside of a Simon Says?  The chips will describe the circuit very well....

The only other quandary I would have is that it is probably a toxic phenolic PCB that is getting bent and releasing toxic crap when heated with a slobbering iron....

I have been using the Altium Nanoboard and it has MIDI on it (as well as a $50 some 500 I/O FPGA that can run "soft" processors, and "wishbone" in any peripherals you need and of course the touch screen [ simulate a simon says on the touch screen? ]  Oh and the Nanoboard has speakers too as well as Ethernet )  The good news is that if you have access to Altium and can download the Nanoboard ref design, the MIDI is mostly done, including layout land patterns etc.... 

The chip in the Simon says is a TMS1000 (ooooooold-school) preprogrammed with a proprietary logic sequence (MP3300NLL). The tones seem to be coming out of the chip, going to a Hex-digit common cathode LED driver that it uses to boost the voltage (for the lights and the audio) and then to the little speaker. Here's a link to the patent if you're interested - http://bit.ly/dAwgwp

The more I look at it, the more concerned I am that the work that needs to be done is to the logic on the chip. This will put me at a dead stop for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is the archaic nature of the chip. In which case I may be getting closer and closer to that touch screen!

I have a variety of directions I'd like to go with this project. I'm hopefully starting with the most simplistic and I intend to move into the more complex stuff of which you speak. I gotta work my way into that tho, tracing this vintage circuit into a workable schemo is proving to be enough of a challenge as it is!!

Ah... the TMS1000 was the first "computer on chip" allegedly....  So it is running software... But the audio sounds like a standard PC TTL audio (square wave audio driven into a speaker)...